Palo Alto Weekly

Rich Gordon wins Democratic Assembly primary

San Mateo County Supervisor defeats Josh Becker and Yoriko Kishimoto in race for state Assembly seat

by Gennady Sheyner and Sue Dremann

San Mateo County Supervisor Rich Gordon has defeated Josh Becker and Yoriko Kishimoto in the Democratic primary Tuesday and appears poised to succeed Ira Ruskin in the 21st Assembly District.

Gordon took an early lead in Tuesday's Democratic primary on the strength of mailed-in ballots and expanded his edge as more results came in. On Thursday afternoon, with some mailed-in ballots yet uncounted, Gordon had 10,790 votes, or 38 percent of the votes, while Becker had 9,613 votes (34 percent) and Kishimoto had 8,076 (28 percent).

The district includes northern Santa Clara County and southern San Mateo County, including Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton, East Palo Alto and Redwood City.

At about 10 p.m. on Election Day, with his victory all but certain, Gordon gave an emotional speech to a crowd of cheering supporters at the Lucie Stern Community Center in Palo Alto in which he acknowledged his early anxieties about the race. Gordon trailed Becker in cash raised for most of the campaign, but finished with his strongest fundraising month, while picking up key endorsements from local officials, unions and newspapers along the way.

"When I started the race, I only knew what I wanted to accomplish," Gordon told his supporters. "But I had no clue, candidly, if I'll find people who would come with me.

"What has transpired has been amazing," he added, before hugging his husband, Dennis McShane, to a burst of applause.

Gordon barely edged out Becker in Santa Clara County, but took a commanding lead in San Mateo County, where he earned 43 percent of the votes. Becker earned 34 percent of the vote in San Mateo County, while Kishimoto picked up just 23 percent (compared to 31 percent in Santa Clara County).

But despite a wave of momentum in the final month of the campaign, Gordon's victory had been far from certain. Becker, a former Congressional aide, united a wide group of entrepreneurs, technologists and business executives behind his enthusiastic campaign, which focused largely on creation of clean-tech jobs.

But while Becker's campaign raised the most cash and made the most use of social media and technology, in the end old-fashioned name recognition won the election, he said. Gordon had spent 12 years on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, while Kishimoto served on the Palo Alto City Council for eight years, including a stint as mayor in 2007, before terming out last year.

"One of the biggest challenges of the race was running against two politicians with high name IDs," Becker said. "It's a big district and you can't meet everyone.

"We felt the more people learned about us, the more they said they would vote for us," he said.

On Tuesday, Becker's campaign headquarters on El Camino Real in Palo Alto was filled with supporters, including his parents, who flew in from Pennsylvania to walk precincts and man phones in the last days of the race. He thanked everyone in attendance for their hard work.

Becker said he now plans to focus on his eight nonprofits and to work on behalf of clean-tech legislation, particularly Assembly Bill 32.

Kishimoto took her loss with equanimity and said she was proud of her "grassroots campaign." Despite being outspent by her two opponents, Kishimoto kept the race close, largely through the support of Palo Alto's neighborhood leaders and conservationists.

On Tuesday, as Gordon's victory appeared increasingly likely, she reflected on her accomplishments.

"I've spent most of my time talking to voters, visiting farmers markets and visiting families," Kishimoto said. "I'm very proud of what my campaign has done."

But it was Gordon who ultimately drew the broadest coalition from the widest geographic area. His campaign party included elected officials from across the Peninsula, including Palo Alto council members Yiaway Yeh and Gail Price, East Palo Alto Councilman Ruben Abrica and Burlingame Councilwoman Terry Nagel.

Gordon's victory means he will now be a heavy favorite in the November race against Republican Greg Conlon in the largely Democratic district. Ruskin, whom both men hope to succeed, will be termed out at the end of the year.

Posted by Don't vote for Yoriko
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Jun 9, 2010 at 1:40 pm

Interesting that the editors deleted posts that were happy about Kishimoto losing, but leave posts that are critical of the other candidates.
Why this protection of Kishimoto? Is she above criticism? Or does it have to do with Kishimoto being a client of the PA weekly (her campaign material was all over this website leading to the election)?

Overall an election that resulted in a win for Californians. Gordon's competition was not up to par; it would have been a step backward for either Becker or Kishimoto to represent Californians. They're good people, but not up to the job.